Kimono eBook

As soon as Geoffrey Barrington had left the house,
Mr. Ito went in search of the head of the Fujinami,
whom he found at work on the latest literary production
of his tame students, The Pinegrove by the Sea-shore.

Mr. Fujinami Gentaro put his writing-box aside with
a leisurely gesture, for a Japanese gentleman of culture
must never be in a hurry.

“Indeed, it has been so noisy, composition has
become impossible,” he complained; “has
that foreigner come, to the house?”

He used the uncomplimentary word “ket[=o]jin”
which may be literally translated “hairy rascal”.
It is a survival from the time of Perry’s black
ships and the early days of foreign intercourse, when
“Expel the Barbarians!” was a watchword
in the country. Modern Japanese assure their
foreign friends that it has fallen altogether into
disuse; but such is not the case. It is a word
loaded with all the hatred, envy and contempt against
foreigners of all nationalities, which still pervade
considerable sections of the Japanese public.

“This Barrington,” answered the lawyer,
“is indeed a rough fellow, even for a foreigner.
He came into the house with his boots on, uninvited.
He shouted like a coolie, and he broke the shoji.
His behaviour was like that of Susa-no-O in the chambers
of the Sun-Goddess. Perhaps he had been drinking
whisky-sodas.”

“A disgusting thing, is it not?” said
the master. “At this time I am writing
an important chapter on the clear mirror of the soul.
It is troublesome to be interrupted by these quarrels
of women and savages. You will have Keiichi and
Gor[=o] posted at the door of the house. They
are to refuse entrance to all foreigners. It must
not be allowed to turn our yashiki into a battlefield.”

Mr. Fujinami’s meditations that morning had
been most bitter. His literary preoccupation
was only a sham. There was a tempest in the political
world of Japan. The Government was tottering under
the revelations of a corruption in high places more
blatant than usual. With the fall of the Cabinet,
the bribes which the Fujinami had lavished to obtain
the licences and privileges necessary to their trade,
would become waste money. True, the Governor of
Osaka had not yet been replaced. A Fujinami familiar
had been despatched thither at full speed to secure
the new Tobita brothel concessions as a fait accompli
before the inevitable change should take place.

The head of the house of Fujinami, therefore, being
a monarch in a small way, had much to think of besides
“the quarrels of women and savages.”
Moreover, he was not quite sure of his ground with
regard to Asako. To take a wife from her husband
against his will, seems to the Japanese mind so flagrantly
illegal a proceeding; and old Mr. Fujinami Gennosuke
had warned his irreligious son most gravely against
the danger of tampering with the testament of Asako’s
father, and of provoking thereby a visitation of his
“rough spirit.”